"Are you all right?" Kira asked.
"Manipulating the melding is more of a Luathan talent. I've never had a knack for it," he said, straightening, the brief flash of weakness already gone.
"Let's go," he said.
"Wait, we're not done. We haven't determined the extent of the damage," Kira protested.
"I've confirmed your theory. We need to leave before anyone finds us here."
"It's too late for that," Liara said from the doorway.
She stepped further into the room, her guards swarming into the room behind her, cutting off their exit.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
"Again?" Kira muttered, glaring at Jin.
He made a strangled noise, managing to sound both sheepish and defensive at the same time. "Don't blame me. They obviously have some sort of technology to block my sensors."
"Uh-huh." She let her voice show how much stock she put into his excuse.
"Focus," Graydon muttered, not taking his attention from the others.
Liara strode forward, her face set in the icy, haughty expression Kira remembered from their first meeting. "Cousin, I'm disappointed. I opened my House to you, welcomed you to my family, yet you betray me at the first opportunity."
"She does know Graydon essentially kidnapped you; not to mention you've survived two assassination attempts since arriving, right?" Jin muttered.
Kira ignored him, too busy watching Liara's soldiers, considering and discarding a dozen different scenarios.
"I warned you to be careful of snakes in the grass," Alma said, appearing from behind Liara. Her eyes were filled with scorn as she looked Kira over. Kira was sure she was the only one to spot the glint of victory in Alma's eyes. "Nothing good ever comes of raising serpents. They always bite you in the end."
"You'd be one to know," Kira said.
Alma didn't respond to the insult as she turned to Graydon. "We will send you to your emperor in pieces as an example. After you, he will know Luatha won't stand for his meddling. Your betrayal will be the spark that turns the rest from him."
Kira pressed her lips together at the threat. Graydon didn't move, motionless as he watched the Luathans.
Kira needed to do something before the Nexus erupted into violence and they lost any chance of convincing Liara of the truth.
"Jin, if you'd be so kind."
"Gladly," Jin said, gliding forward. The recording started up.
A harsh buzz ripped through the room. Electricity crackled and Jin gave a pained grunt. He hit the ground with a crash, his metal body bouncing before going still.
"Jin," Kira screamed, fear coating her throat.
For a long terrifying second, she couldn't feel the slight shadow of a presence in the back of her mind she associated with him, a thin thread barely noticeable most of the time. Right now, the connection vibrated with pain, the wounds of the weapon leaving it raw and exposed.
An eternity of agony lay before her as she faced the thought he was gone—forever beyond her grasp in the afterlife.
Darkness yawned wide inside. The thin bindings keeping her monster from laying waste to everything and everyone threatened to snap.
She forgot who she was, forgot the honorable person she fought to be. All she knew was rage and vengeance.
The transformation tingled along her skin, pain biting deep as she struggled to contain it. Her blood heated and the urge to kill her enemies gnawed at her.
The connection snapped into place. Kira could feel Jin again, hurt and scared, but alive.
She took a deep breath and settled, physically shaking herself as she grabbed for the gossamer-thin tendrils of composure.
When she opened her eyes again, her vision wasn't red-tinged and she no longer thirsted for destruction.
She stared at Ayela's sweet face, innocent and serene where she stood over Jin's body. The woman didn't know it yet, but she was already dead.
"What did you do to him?" Kira asked calmly.
She amused herself by envisioning leaping across the small distance and grabbing Ayela by the throat. In her imagination, she tore Ayela’s deceitful head from her shoulders before kicking it across the room.
Graydon and Liara stared at her, awareness in their gazes, both sensing how close they'd come to dying.
"I defended my Overlord by removing the threat," Ayela said with a peaceful smile. "I couldn't let the abomination endanger her."
Kira sucked in another breath. In and out. In and out.
Killing Ayela fast was too good for her. Better to draw it out. Kira could rip her arms off, one at a time, then each leg. Ayela's screams would be glorious music.
When she finally grew tired of the sound of Ayela's suffering, she could rip out her tongue.
Only after she'd exacted every ounce of revenge and left the woman a quivering mess of insanity would she kill her.
"Your advisers are plotting against you," Kira said, the very lack of emotion in her voice a warning.
Graydon shifted so he was partially facing her as well as Liara's people. He suspected what she was.
She ignored him, not finding it in herself to care.
Right now, the objective was simple. Inform Liara of the impending attack then kill Ayela.
"Enough of these lies," Alma said impatiently. She nodded at Roderick.
Kira's muscles coiled with readiness.
"Hold," Graydon snapped. To Liara, he said, "Why were no oshota guarding the Nexus?"
Liara hesitated, unease touching her expression.
A slice of Kira's bloodthirstiness eased. There might be a way out of this.
Ayela shifted closer as Kira ignored her. The other woman wouldn’t be so foolhardy to attempt something without her overlord’s command.
Kira waited, watching Liara expectantly as the other woman worked through the different possibilities and the tension in the room lessened.
Ayela shifted again, bringing her arm up. Pain blazed through Kira, fire sizzling her nerve endings. She hit the ground with her knees, her mouth opened on a silent scream.
The world around her turned to white noise as agony surged through her nerves again. Indescribable pain ate at her until she became aware again, her face pressed against the stone, her body convulsing slightly.
Stupid mistake, Kira. Not seeing Ayela as a threat even after what she’d done to Jin.
Gradually the sound of an argument came into focus as she smacked her lips together, the dull taste of copper in her mouth.
"Try it again, and I'll separate your head from your shoulders," Graydon threatened in a silky voice.
"I'm doing what's in the best interests of my Overlord," Ayela said politely. She pointed the weapon at Kira, preparing to fire again.
Graydon roared as he charged. He reached Ayela and struck, his fist crashing into her chest. Ayela’s body crumpled under the blow, flying backward.
Kira knew that voice. She recognized it. Ayela was the unknown conspirator from earlier. How had she missed that before?
Liara and Alma argued near her.
"They pulled up the defense network. They must have planned to bring it down," Alma said. "We need to reset the key to ensure its safety."
"There's no way they got in. Neither one of them are coded into the system," Liara argued.